


The World of Gifted and Tainted

by RoyalB



Category: No Fandom, Original - Fandom, og - Fandom
Genre: Brutality, Character Development, Discovery, F/F, F/M, Fights, M/M, Magic, Manhunt - Freeform, Military, Money, Politcs, Realistic, Religion, Sex, Sexuality, Swords
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 23:27:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28715016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoyalB/pseuds/RoyalB
Summary: It is the year 1259. The two super powers face each other, this war decides more, than just the ruler of lands, but the survival of once people.The holy Father, the head of the church and state, has reunited all monotheistic splitter religions, in Europe, by force and destroyed or forcefully converted other believing religions.Against this monoteistc powerhouse, stands the old Mongolinan Empire, the Khanate. As descendants of the great warrior race of the Mongolian tribes, they value honor in fight and life the highest. It is a strict and honor bound society.The highest honor is to serve the mighty Khan. He is the political and spiritual leader of the whole empire. He tolerates every religion, as long as they bow before him.
Relationships: Gleaves and Berg, Liss and Kings, Liss and Vaylin / trouble, Liss and Vaylin with their soldiers, Liss and higerups, Liss with enemies, Lissandra Iceborn Vaylin Fyéry, Vaylin with Enemies, Vaylin with Father, Vaylin with Mother





	The World of Gifted and Tainted

**Author's Note:**

> But what about the gifted, you may ask. In this world, there are people, that have been tuched by god, or the devel and have been tainted, depending, on who you ask. These people have special powers, which makes them especially dangerous for their enemies.   
> The Union has realized the massive advatage, that this new part in history brings, and has develloped and changed itself, to be the one leading nation.  
> The Khanate at the other hand, has declared war on the tainted. They fear the power, that comes from only one person and fear the work of dark powers in the shadows, that want to urserp them.  
> (more info in the worldbuilding doc)

Liss sat in her tent. The field-chair was much more comfortable than she would ever give it credit for. Being a captain had its perks after all. She twisted a quill in her hand. Waiting. A warm breeze graced her skin; she closed her eyes. It got loud. Not sounds, but the noise she saw through her closed eyes was disturbing. Figures dancing, drinking, falling…  
She opened her eyes again. The candles, that lit the room flickered in the breeze of this distant land.  
Her thoughts were pressing. When would their journey go on? It has been a few days, since the twelfth brigade had started camping at the edge of the horse-lord’s territory. They waited. That’s everything Liss new. She knew, the men under her command would get anxious, if this annoying freeze of their mission would continue. She’d rather return and wait another year, then waiting here any time longer.  
It would be a march to their deaths, if they were not swift and precise, not only, any gathering army would overrun them in moments, but it was already late in the summer. The winter would bring cold and death.  
The pictures of the winter march were still present in her mind. It happened years before she was born, but it was non the less shocking. An expeditioner force, one-hundred-fifty-thousand men, saw themselves in the seas of green turning themselves white and the lush fields turned into a desert of ice. Only few did survive. They were certain, they were dead, roaming the earth for punishment for the things they had done to survive.  
But they didn’t come home empty handed. They told tales, of a strange Khanate. An agglomeration of different religions, peoples and cultures, all united under one Khan. His armies seen to be like an unstoppable, furious, murdering storm, ravaging over fields of people, regardless of who they were. But worst of all, they were hunting people, like her. The following war has been put into a stalemate, neither party would dare to attack, and now they were here, at the edge of the fields of grass, in a valley of the edge of their known land. The Union’s lands were vast, it stretched from the far west of former Portugal to the northern tip of Norway, to the east of Belarus and to the south of Italy, but nowhere were these kinds of vast, empty fields of grass.  
As Liss felt, that her eyes started to get heavy, she looked up. She looked outside. Her eyes focused on a fire, where a few men of her were sitting around. They were drinking, having fun.  
In her mind, there were three kinds of explanations for this behavior. One; they were stressed, trying to forget about the danger, that was imminent, but invisible. Second; they were just not as stressed as herself, and never even considered the danger, looming around them, meaning that the morale was still high. Or just men drinking, being themselves. She hoped it being the third option.  
Either way, what she would say to them tomorrow, would swing their moods drastically. Tomorrow, the big gathering of the war bands was strange. All the forces at the edge of the Union’s border have been gathered, only few guarding the towns and people, we were supposed to protect.  
Liss looked for her first lieutenant. He was supposed to keep the men in fighting form. She didn’t see him, he was probably evading the noise in a dark corner, bruiting or training. He was a dark, quiet and competent man. He was transferred to her unit as a learner with the rank of a private, but he swiftly proved his worth to Liss. She saw his worth and prompted him swiftly through the ranks, she could promote. The last promotion happened in the beginning of this year, but still, he was a stranger to her. While he was supposed to be the learner, she let him teach her. At first it was about his culture. He was born in the far east. How he got into the civilized world, he never talked about. After a while he started to teach tactics, sword fighting, a bit of his own secrets and then, to the most important thing in the world for him, riding a horse, the proper way. She was a good rider, but what he taught her, brought her on another level, and all this, by barely speaking a word. 

The drinking outside continued into a binge. If there was one soldier with a hangover, Liss would need to have a word with Owen. She wanted to depend on him, but he had to adapt to the new circumstances. When she made him her first lieutenant, she took a grave risk, all the other captains watched her carefully. She was the first captain in recent history to promote someone this fast without the higher ups blessing. Her position was secured by her abilities, but if she wanted to get to higher places, this man was as important to her career as anything she did prior. Owen had to pick his responsibilities up, or she had to do something about that. It was to the upmost importance, that Owen got his shit together, not only that he rose through the ranks this fast, but he was a stranger to them as well. Different and foreign. An outsider, whom can’t be trusted.  
A Soldier entered through the opening of the tent.  
“Captain, Sir, you are being expected in the war-tent.”, the soldier saluted, as Liss looked at him.  
“Did they say anything else?”, Liss asked a bit tired. -If this is another drill-  
“They have new information.”, the soldier commented soldierly.  
“I’ll be there in a minute.” Liss dipped the, now dried, quill into the glass inkwell. “Stepp away, soldier.” Liss mumbled as the man didn’t move an inch.  
She wrote her name carefully under the letter. Rolled and folded it. On the outside she wrote -Galicia-Volhynia; To: Liadra Iceborn- Then used the candle next to her to seal the letter and put her signet-ring on the hot beeswax. “Boy, I know the way!”, Liss said now louder, as the soldier didn’t move. She mustered him. He was older than her, still she was much higher ranking.  
“I’ve got orders from the colonel to escort you there.” The soldier said, still at attention.  
“Why on earth?!” Liss started to complain. “Well, stand at ease…”, she waited for him to say his name.  
“Corporal.” The soldier said, relaxing a bit.  
“Well… corporal, why do you think, he gave you this order?” Liss asked, trying to be nice and not be received an ungrateful bitch.  
“Maybe,” The corporal started carefully, “It’s because of them…” He pointed behind himself, without looking, towards the sounds of the booze up.  
Liss massaged her temples. “Great.” She stood up, reached for her sword, she had placed next to her provisional desk, fixated it on her leather belt. The letter, she put into a pouch on the other side of her belt.  
“Well then, let’s go.”, Liss commanded, not feeling in command at all.  
The soldier made way and followed her within a respectful distance.  
Liss steered for the drunks of her company. “Tomorrow we will march, if you’re not ready for that, you’ll get whipped until you are, understood?”, Liss words were sharp, cutting though the relaxed state of the small group of soldiers drinking.  
“Yes, Mam!”, the group uniformly agreed.  
“And if you see first lieutenant Owen, tell him, he’s in trouble.”  
“Yes, Mam!”, fewer soldiers agreed.

When Liss and the Corporal left the group it dispersed, trying to get sober as fast as possible.  
“What?” Liss asked, a bit annoyed, looking at the Corporal, who’s smile was a bit much for her.  
“Nothing, I didn’t say anything… mam.” The man said, silently laughing.  
They walked through the camp. Liss counted the companies’ flags, a routine thing, she always did. With hers they were twenty-two. One brigade of trained fighters. Around five-thousand men. One-thousand heavy-cavalry, five-hundred light-cavalry, two hundred archers and the rest infantry. From Liss’ knowledge, there was no standing army, that could rival the strength, the numbers or experience of this army, that has positioned itself as ignorant of danger as possible. On an open field, no reinforcements, at all, no entrenchments, at all. When her higher ups commanded to camp exactly there, she was pissed. For three days she had now tired to reach anyone’s ear, to no avail. The camp was still not reinforced, nor did they have a fast way of raising an alarm, if a fast-moving tumen or even a mingghan would attack them, they would be defenseless. She had ordered her riders to keep the horses at bay, but there was not much more, that she could do, to protect them.  
They arrived at the large war tent in the end of the camp.  
“They are waiting inside.”, the corporal stated, dragging Liss out of her thoughts.  
“Thanks.”, she dismissed him with a wave of her hand. “Wait, can you give this letter to the pigeon master?”, she asked, as a favor, not as a command.  
The corporal took the letter. “My pleasure, Captain.”  
Liss entered the warm room.  
Around thirty faces looked at her.  
The brigade-general announced her, “Ah, the last and most annoying captain has arrived. To all, this is Captain Lissandra Iceborn. You may have seen one of her complaints before, I’ve started to just throw them out. The papers of cause.” He laughed.  
“With all necessary respect, general.” She interrupted him, “but my complaints are not of a laughing matter, you are risking actively the lives of over five-thousand people, including yourself.”  
He held his head annoyed. “And there it is again, if you want to get to the rank of major, you need to know, when to speak, and when not to. Now silence girl, you are only here to be educated, not to give advice, for that, you would need to be a rank higher.”, he gloated.  
Liss kept standing near the entrance, the cold air cooled her heated head.  
“Scouts have reported that no army has formed from here, to hundreds of miles from here east. Other reports mention small settlements to the south-east.”, the Colonel announced, “As our mission stats, we are to protect the border and drive every and any foreign powers from the border, away, into the green desert.”  
-enemies fifty miles away from the border, in a settlement, well, this won’t be a fight.- Liss pouted silently.  
“A few riders would suffice.” Another captain commented on the proposed target of the Colonel.  
“What would you propose, captain Vaylin Fyéry?”, the Colonel asked.  
“Well, if this a settlement, taking numbers of our settlements, fifty miles of the border, meaning from around five-hundred to a thousand settlers, a small force of two-hundred light-cavalry, should be enough do deal with.”, she ended her assessment with a smile.  
“Good, that sounds like a plan.” The Brigade-general, exclaimed, “How nice, that we have two volunteers.”  
Vaylin looked at him with a stunted face, “We have?”  
“Yes. We have.” Liss answered a bit annoyed.  
“But I don’t command cavalry?”, Vaylin exclaimed, half in panic, half irritated.  
“Small details.”, the Colonel spouted, “You are now officially transferred to the second-cavalry-squadron as the leading captain for the duration of your mission. Your duties will fall on your first-lieutenant. Former Captain of the second cavalry-squadron, you are being demoted to first-lieutenant. Are there any more questions? Oh, and if the lieutenant gives any signs of treason, court-martial him.”, The words of the Colonel just poured out of him.  
-This is all just game for him.- Liss really disliked him.  
A “Dismissed!”, broke the meeting off. The commanding branch of this brigade left the tent.  
Now only five people were left inside the tent. Lissandra, Captain of the first cavalry-squadron, Vaylin, temporary Captain of the second cavalry-squadron, Orlan, the cornel of the first regiment, Effan, the cornel of the second regiment and brigadier-general Scurge. Liss and Vaylin looked at each other, starting simultaneously. “What are we doing here?”  
Effan mocked them, “Don’t you mean; What are our mission parameters, Sirs?”  
Orlan shushed him, “They ask a valid question. What are we doing here? If the scouts are right, there are only civis there, and I won’t send any of my troops into a massacre of civilians, you hear me.”  
“If these civis are smart, there won’t happen anything like this. If not, well, so be it.”, Scurge commented on his subordinate’s concerns. “You won’t be restricted for this operation, just be swift, with something you are right, Iceborn. This place is goddamn awful.”  
“No problem, Sir.”, Liss mumbled as silent as possible,  
“Nice of you to not say; I told you so, since day one.  
Well, if you two are not back till in two days evening, we will have moved the camp south. There is a larger hill, perfect to entrench and forficate. We will most likely spend the winter there, if we don’t get any orders from home.” The general explained while pointing at a map, showing the two captains, where they would go, and where they would be in two to three days.  
“Go now, prepare your men. You will ride out tomorrow first light.” Orlan dictated.  
The two women stepped outside. A soft breeze whirled Vaylin’s long fiery dark-red hair up, while Liss short, white, braided hair didn’t care for it. Vaylin sorted her curly hair again, into a mannerly ponytail.  
“Will this be your first mission?” Liss asked carefully, not knowing this girl, from anywhere. They both were young, around the same age.  
“Yes, yours’s?” Vaylin asked back, who mustered Liss. She noticed; she was a bit bigger than her counterpart. She was more muscular, broader. She received a stinging look of Liss, her blue eyes pierced her. Liss was already deeper than her superficial observations.  
They walked by the first camp, the personal honor-guard of the general. Light of torches lightened them both up from the sides. Her white shoulder-short hair glistened against the light, almost blinding. She seemed exciting, almost exotic. Unlike most military people. They all had a stick up their asses, she liked to include herself with that, but it was difficult.  
“No, but the first mission outside our borders. New territory, for both of us I guess.” Liss answered, trying get to a common ground. From where did she knew her? It wasn’t from military school; she was the only girl there. But she seemed familiar. “Why do the general and the cornels trust you on this mission?”, Liss caught a judging look from Vaylin. “I mean, because you have no experience, nothing else…”   
“You sure, not because of something else?” Vaylin dug with a sharp tongue. What was the meaning behind that question? What did she want from her?  
“No, I’m sure… I know, why I am here. I have experience. I’ve shown my worth and I know most of my peers, but you, you are new. I have never seen you. Not on a field, not in prep, not in pre. So where do you come from, that you don’t start as a private?” Liss question was more a demand. This girl was a liability if not dangerous.  
“Let’s say my father has some connections…” Vaylin admitted reluctantly.  
“And your father is…?”, Liss asked piercingly.  
“I don’t want to speak of him. This is now my way, not his and my chance to prove myself. So please don’t get in my way, Captain.”, Vaylin turned around, stomping off.  
“You’re going to prove yourself against civis, what an honor!”, Liss mocked, “By the way, your new battalion is the other way! Captain!”, she knew her words would sting. But a hatchling, fallen out of papa’s nest, would have to wake up some day.

Liss and Vaylin walked quietly, with distance towards their respective battalion camps.

The first cavalry squadron  
Liss was greeted by her four lieutenants. Whom were exceedingly excited to hear about their new mission.  
“Finally, some action. We are going to ready the four platoons at once!” The third lieutenant exclaimed excited.  
“No, only two.” Liss dampened his ferociousness. “This will be a joint operation with the second squadron. Both squadrons will ready two platoons and ride out at first sun light. Owen, you will take command of dusk and dawn; the rest will stay here, noon and light will stay under the control of you three. You know the drill, when I come back, I want to see a new camp!” Liss commanded her lieutenants.  
“Yes mam.” The four answered as a choir.  
“Dismissed.” Liss stepped back into her tent, letting the four do their job.  
Slowly the camp got silent. Preparations for tomorrow were finished and the soldiers were ready to get some rest. Liss was prepared for bed and was tired, but she couldn’t sleep just jet.  
“HEY! Get me the first lieutenant here!”, she commanded the guard posted outside of her tent.  
He nodded and ran off.  
Liss spread the map of the edge-land over the table, marked the supposed settlement with her quiver with a small tent. Then crossed their current camp off the map and drew the new position of the new camp. From what she could see on the map, it was a good spot. It was on a hill, around it only flat-land. A small spring was a near source for a fresh water supply. Then, with a piece of coal and with the aid of a ruler, she drew a straight line from the old camp, to the village. Then another line from the village to the new camp. She measured the two lines.  
“Fifty miles, around five hours, with short stops maybe six. Back line a bit longer, so camp, where…” Liss mumbled.  
“You called for m—” Owen entered the tent and stopped. “Oh?”, he mustered Liss, who only wore shorts and a bind around her chest.  
“Don’t get any funny ideas. I only need your help with the route.” Liss felt the looks of her lieutenant.  
Owen shook his head, “Yes?”  
“I don’t like our situation.” Liss complained to the map.  
Owen stepped up, looking at the map. Nodding.  
“I want you to get a cartographer, or somebody, who is good at it. Take him with us. I know, it’s against the rules to bring essential personal to a mission, but when there is another mission, to go out there, I want to be prepared.”  
He nodded, starting to turn around.  
“Wait.” Liss held his arm. “We still need to talk.”  
Owen looked at her, a bit confused.  
“What do you think of this?”, She pressured him, not to rely on his normal dry and short answers.  
He seemed relieved. “Seems easy enough.” He answered dry.  
“Not what I mend, Owen.”, Liss was still bent over the map, trying to study the roughly drawn terrain.  
Owen stepped back, again mustering his superior from behind. “I do not wish to question the general’s orders.”, he evaded.  
“I don’t want you to question them, I want to know, what you think about the mission. I mean these are your people.” Liss waited a second. “And don’t tell me, these _were_ your people… Well, if you don’t want to answer, just know, what ever happens, I don’t want to do this, like… at all. If this was an army, I wouldn’t have a problem riding with a thousand against a hundred, but this…” Liss turned around and sat on the table. “I just want you to know, that I will try everything to protect these people. But this new bitch—”  
“You mean captain Vaylin?” Owen interrupted her.  
“Yes, she thinks, she has to prove something. Her father must be some big shot, she’s new, inexperienced, and just now has been transferred to the cavalry, before she was just commanding some grounders…”, Liss looked at Owen with interest. “I don’t trust her. She’s new…”  
“Like me.” Owen called her out.  
“Well, no. I know you, I trust you, Owen.”  
“It’s Eoghan, Captain. Good night.” He walked outside, closing the tent behind him.

Second cavalry-squadron  
“Captain, Captain!”, a soldier greeted Vaylin, as she arrived at her new battalion.  
“Yes Soldier.”, Vaylin answered short cut.  
“I am the second lieutenant, actually, miss, the old captain has already drilled us on the mission, the only thing we still need to know are the parameters.”  
Vaylin looked at him. A few years older than her, blonde and strong build. His armor was tightly fitted and decorated with playful golden roses.  
“Good, muster one-hundred. I want a two-two and a plan, on the environment, we are going through.”, she ordered, “We are going for a search and destroy mission.”  
The man nodded and turned towards the other lieutenants.  
Vaylin didn’t care for introducing herself to the other. Tomorrow would be a big day for her. Even if this was only a small target, it was the only target, hence the most important. She wouldn’t let that lowly girl get the credit, only because she had experience, from where anyway, she couldn’t be much older than her. She would outperform her, in any way or form possible.

Dawn

Liss and her two platoons were ready before the sun rose. The second squadron’s camp was still silent. Only guards were seen. Liss gloated for a second.  
“Ow—Eoghan, could you be so nice and give the second platoon the sign to move?”  
He nodded, pulled out of his saddle pouch a metal horn. When he put it against his lips, a mark shattering dark-pitched sound filled the whole army camp.  
The second squadron got moving. Hectic and unorganized.  
Vaylin stormed out. “The sun’s not even up yet!”, she exclaimed angrily.  
Liss moved her horse a bit closer to Vaylin, to not scream, as she did. “Correct, still, we ride at first sun light, remember?”  
Vaylin hissed at her.  
Turned around and shouted orders.  
Liss shook her head, -That would be a special trip.-

The second squadron was quickly ready to move.  
“Hey Boot!”, Liss addressed Vaylin, “Let’s ride together.”  
Vaylin shot next to her, “What do you mean with boot?!”  
“You are from the ground troops are you not? Boot?” Liss asked with a played unknowingness.  
“OHH, this nickname won’t be a thing!” Vaylin hissed.  
Liss laughed, “If you didn’t want it to stick, you shouldn’t have answered, Boot.” Liss lightly tapped her horse and with remarkable speed, she and her two platoons rode out.  
Vaylin looked after them for a second and then she, herself gave her horse the spurs, catching up with Liss.  
Vaylin had problems keeping the tempo on a warhorse, these destriers were perfectly trained tools, wild and still hearing to every motion of the rider. Powerful, fast and strong, for every passionate, or good rider, these horses were the pinnacle of riding. Vaylin was neither.  
Liss spotted her peer struggling. “Don’t lean as much forward!”, she advised her struggling companion. For now, don’t ride sited, keep the rains in one hand and only use the neck reins.” Liss continued a crude riding lesson. She stood in her saddle, flowing with her horse over the gras-lands.  
Vaylin looked back at the troops following them. “Why are they sitting?”, she asked curiously.  
Liss giggled a bit, then answered, “I thought, when you learn something, you should learn it the right way.”, She looked at Eoghan. He ignored them, he seemed distant.  
“Anyway, you can ride the way, all the others are riding, it is easier for you, while harder for the horse, you will feel the strain after a short while riding my way, but this will go, the longer you ride. And we will be riding for around three days, so… I would ride my way.”  
Vaylin nodded, as she understood the role of the horse for an army better than most. For infantry, cavalry can be the worst nightmare, or the best thing happening to them, always depending on who’s side they were on.  
“And know, this horse—” Liss got interrupted by a rider of her brigade, coming at them, from the place, where they were going with gallop.  
Liss stopped the four squadrons with a wink of her hand. Vaylin’s horse ran a few meters further, than she realized and got back to Liss.  
The scout arrived, “Captains, I report a small host of soldiers, moving on foot towards us.”, he reported out of breath.  
“What do you mean a small host?” Vaylin asked the scout.  
“Four to five hundred grounders.”, he reported, holding his sides.  
“Vaylin, we need to get back to the camp, these Mongols don’t usually have that many foot soldiers.” Liss educated, “I’ve never seen this size of an peasants’ army if the Mongolians. The bulk of the riding force can’t be far!”, her tone seemed worried, scared even.  
Vaylin smiled a bit, when she heard -peasant army-, “Lissandra, didn’t you listen, to what the scouts said? Within hundreds of miles is no army gathering. This is an easy target, we destroy this host, and report a double victory, for destroying an enemy force and this settlement. Don’t you want this promotion, the general teased you with?”  
Liss lifted her chin and looked in the sky, thinking, “Fine, but, we do it my way, I want precise numbers, I want a battleplan, we do this the right way.”, Liss demanded with a sharp voice, “Eoghan, go and give the fastest rider you have the order to report back, if we don’t send another messenger in three hours, they need to prepare for battle, you understand?”  
Eoghan nodded. He turned his horse and vanished in the crowd of riders. Liss dismounted her horse and signaled the others to do the same, she waved the lower commanding officers to come, she explained them their situation.  
“How much time, till they reach us?” Vaylin asked the scout.  
“Not sure.” He answered, “Maybe half an hour, they are walking.”, he remembered.  
Liss took a map out of her saddle-pouch and rolled it out in front of the others. “We are around here.”, she pointed with her sheeted sword at the place on the map, where she thought they were. “We are riding on the high road. They are probably doing the same.”, she said, while pointing on the map, the highlighted line, she drew the day before. “A surprise attack won’t be an option, they will see us as soon, as we see them.” Liss looked around, checking, if she could see people in the distance.  
“Nonsense, this will be a breeze.” Vaylin commented, without thinking.  
“Is that so, boot?” Liss asked, a bit aggravated.  
“Yea, duh, we just roll over them, spearhead assault, split up, encircle them, and its over.”, Vaylin looked around, looking for approval from the other minds around her.  
“No, we do that, we loose control of the battle, they vastly outnumber us.” Liss reminded her, “We will get slowed down by their front line and get slaughtered by the infantry.” Liss commented on Vaylin’s plan, waiting for the others to throw something in the mix.  
“It is still a peasant army, they won’t have the cohesion of a trained unit to withstand a brute force approach.”, an older lieutenant commented, while stroking the little hair he had left on his chin. “I believe, captain Vaylin’s approach is simple, jet should be effective.”, he concluded.  
“Good, that you believe that, sir, but with believes, battles are not won.”, Liss shut down that idea. “It is reckless and will cost too many lives. We- I cannot and will not allow that.”, she looked at Vaylin, who seemed extremely interested into this conversation. “Vaylin, I trust you with a part of this attack, that if you fail, will cost many lives. We will divide and conquer. Two parts, we will attack them from here and from here.” She pointed ahead and after the peasant army.  
“You mean we pincer them?”, another lieutenant asks.  
“Not quite.” Liss answered. “Vaylin will attack with the bulk of our force straight on. While this attack happens, I and a smaller part of our force will attack and split the enemy force.”  
“Hammer and Pickle, I like it.” Vaylin commented.  
“We don’t have enough time for that.”, the old lieutenant criticized the plan.  
“We do, and you know, if you had a bit more creativity, you might not be a lieutenant anymore, we just pull back a bit, wait for precise half an hour, then attack, you should see them by then. My force will ride past them, it should not worry them too much, as a force as little can’t be a threat to them.”, Liss concluded.  
The others nodded, even the old lieutenant did.  
“Good, I’m off and take the Noon platoon with me, they will suffice for my task.” Liss directed, as she saddled up. “Timing is important Vaylin, don’t rush in, while we are not ready. Good luck.”, she added, while starting to ride away, towards her chosen platoon.  
“Ok, men, we got a plan, let’s not fuck this up and get moving!”, Vaylin commanded the others.  
-Let them do their job, they’re here for.- Vaylin swung herself on her horse. Giving her staff signals to follow her. They moved a bit back. Liss took of with her fifty men. Riding swiftly towards the place the scout described. Vaylin hart was pounding. She marked, with a jittery hand, on her sun-clock, when she was supposed to charge. She felt, how her surrounding got quieter, nervous even. They depended on her to make the right decision in the right time. The army of around one-hundred-fifty riders trotted slowly a bit back. Vaylin led, the lieutenants joined the ranks of the soldiers. She was alone in a see of men.

Liss had made sure to pick the fittest horses and the best riders for this mission. While Vaylin had a critical part to play, her part was essential for this operation to work. The fifty riders dashed through the green desert. Liss mind played through the battle. Three-hundred to -four infantry, against two-hundred cavalry. For every normal battle, these numbers would assure a win for the cavalry, with a strong frontline and archers weakening the army’s strength, but this was something else. Liss had never fought against the horse-lord’s infantry. There were a few small scuffles, she was part of, but these were only fighting on horses. And they had high losses in these skirmishes. Her restless mind tossed her decisions around.  
A rider caught up to her and pointed up a shallow hill. Little heads with sticks and package peeked over the curve. They headed the way, Liss was coming from.  
Liss ordered her men to slow down. They let the peasant-army pass. Liss looked the way the enemy’s men came from. She noticed a silhouette getting slowly smaller.  
She pointed at him, “Get!”, two riders divided from the group, with bows on their backs, swords sheeted and pike in a hand they galloped towards their target.  
A distant scream, drowning in itself, reached their ears.  
Liss looked for Vaylin, they should attack any second now.  
The two riders came riding towards them. One gave Liss a tablet.  
It was heavy metal, long and as wide as her hand. Words and signs were inscribed on it. She whished she taken Eoghan with her. He could reed it. She could speak a bit of the horse-lord’s tough, but reading was another deal.  
“What does it mean?”, one of the two riders asked.  
“I have no clue. When we get to it, I’ll ask Eoghan.”, she answered, while putting the tablet inside of a pouch of her saddle.

A flaring light rose into the air and exploded. Dark-red fire lit up the day even more then it was before.  
“A bit of an obvious signal.”, Liss mocked, when she saw Vaylin’s fire-ball.  
“What a color, ain’t it?”, the same soldier commented.  
Liss nodded and a jolt went through the squadron.  
While galloping towards the enemy, they could see the disorder in their ranks. They had seen the signal as well and were in panic. Few were already braking ranks, fleeing, even before the fight had begun.  
The three squadrons started to charge from ahead, while the one squadron flanked from behind.  
Vaylin fired a giant fire-ball into the ranks of the enemy. They scattered even more. Fleeing in all directions, if not burned to a crisp.  
As the charge cut through the ranks of enemies, like a hot knife through butter, the flanking squadron had no resistance at all. When the other squadrons cut through butter, they cut through thin air. Liss was already prepared, she had already enchanted her thin blade with her black-ice, she had inherited from her parents. One cut to kill, sending a frost through the enemies’ blood and travels to the hart, shocking it in the process. A poison with a much faster effect.  
The first ranks, including Liss, fired their respective deadly gifts into the rear making room for their horses, crushing through the backline.

Vaylin started to feel cold. Suddenly, she could see her breath freezing in front of her, as well as her horses. She could feel the power emitting from the backline, like a bright fire emitting this cold. -The enemy commander! A worthy kill!-

She rushed through the broken lines and bodies, towards this blistering cold.  
She reached it, “Liss?!”, she exclaimed surprised, as she saw her peer looking at the fleeing soldiers, with shards of black-ice, lining them up. The ground below her, had turned dark and dead.  
Liss turned around, letting the ice fall.  
“What?!”, she was in panic, “Did something happen?”  
Looking a bit confused, “Am… No, I guess, we won.”, she excused.   
“Yes…”, she looked after the fleeing soldiers. “I guess that’s right.”, she turned to a soldier, sitting on his horse next to her. “I want a casualty report. Now-then, tend to the badly wounded. Relieve enemies of suffering, save some for questioning.”, she ordered.  
These were normal orders, Vaylin had heard them before, but out of Liss’ mouth they sounded brutal.  
“Yes, captain, what about the fleeing?”, he asked back.  
Liss shrugged, “If someone hadn’t interrupted me, we wouldn’t have had this problem.”, She looked at Vaylin.  
“I’m sorry, actually I really would have liked to see that,,,” Vaylin answered, a bit ashamed of herself.  
“Would you now?” Liss asked provokingly, “Well, come on, the fight was a success, even without hearing the numbers.”, Liss bragged, self-consciously.  
“Yea, we seemingly make a badass team.”, Vaylin added, holding her mouth shut, “Sorry, slipped out.”, she apologized swiftly.  
“Come on, I’m not as stiff as most!” Liss mocked, “While I thought you were a bit stiffer than that, Vaylin.”  
Vaylin smiled, “What not boot anymore? I was kinda getting used to that name.”  
The two rode besides each other, a bit up a hill.  
“No, you didn’t.” Liss brought out, making them both chuckle.

The two looked over the battlefield. The gifts used had taken its toll on the ground. Drained with blood and littered with corpses, it wasn’t a real battlefield, it was a slaughter.

“Captains, I can report, that we have suffered no casualties. Only twelfth injured soldiers.”, a soldier announced to the two women.  
“That’s good. How bad is it?” Liss asked, still concerned.  
“Not too bad, but fighting won’t be an option for four of them, for a longer time.”, he commented.  
“Well, then send them back. I don’t want them slowing us down, they can bring the tidings of the battle with them, when they arrive.” Vaylin added, Liss nodded.  
“Hey.” Liss nudged Vaylin, when the soldier left them, “Let’s write some good words, to accompany the wounded, they won’t portrait our victory the right way.” Liss smirked.  
“And what would you want to write?”, Vaylin asked, trying to catch Liss’ smirk.  
“Well, let’s come up with a name first, maybe: Sun fist and Ice spear? Or hammer and pickle?”  
“Oh, I like the last one.” Vaylin smirked and wrote the name on a piece of paper. “We fought against four-hundred, no scratch that, five-hundred, vicious, horse-lord’s soldiers.”, she started.  
“Only the admirer able teamwork of the first and second cavalry battalion made way to the glorious victory of the holy union.”, Liss continued.  
“With great--- No, genius, planning and strategizing, against her advisors, Lissandra Iceborn came up with the perfect list, to overcome those grave odds.” Vaylin added.  
“And only the impeccable timing of Vaylin Fyéry enabled the plan to succeed so brilliantly.”, Liss claimed, “The two looked so good in their victory, that hundreds fled the battlefield, before even one soldier had died.” the two giggled.  
“That’s exactly what happened.” Vaylin mocked smilingly, “But what now?”, she asked. She put the letter away, stowing it in a pouch.  
“Look.” Liss presented the tablet from the runaway to Vaylin.  
“What is it?” Vaylin asked intrigued.  
“That’s what I wanted to ask Ow—Eoghan.”, she looked around.  
“Wait? Where is he?”, Her voice got louder, “Where is Lieutenant Eoghan?!”, soldiers looked around, but finally looked back to her. No answer.  
“Why are you so stressed? He’s only a lieutenant, isn’t he?” Vaylin asked a bit confused. “I mean sure, one missing, after a flawless victory will put a dent in the thing, but nothing too bad…”  
“Oh, it is so much worse than that.” Liss answered spitefully. “He could be the reason my life ends or continues, meaning, he is the key to win here, or be decimated, and I just lost this key!”, Liss turned her horse around, making it ready to storm down, towards the battlefield, looking for him.  
Vaylin stopped her, “We can’t stay here for long, you know that, and we can’t stop and look for one guy, doesn’t matter, how important he is.”  
“But—”  
“No! If you start a fuss, crying about, how you lost the key of winning here, what is going to happen to the men, right, they gonna panic, and panicked men are as useless as hens! So, get your shit together Iceborn! If he’s alive, we’re gonna find him, if not, too bad for him.”, her brown eyes stared every try of backtalk down, Liss knew Vaylin was right.

The two made preparations to continue, get away from the raven’s feast, leaving the injured to travel back to the main force.  
The day was still young, and the not much weaker force continued towards their initial goal, the settlement.

After a few hours later, it got darker and the speed of the caravan slowed down further and further as the riders, as the animals got tired.  
A uniform decision was made, camp on the spot. Tents got loaded of the horses and fires got started.  
Vaylin cursed, “For the love of god?! Why?!”  
“What?” Liss asked, calmingly.  
“Some asshole forgot to pack my tent with my other stuff!”, she replied, not being calmed down.  
“Chill, we can share a tent for a night, you have everything else?”, Liss proposed. “It’s big enough for the both of us, I only hope you don’t snore, I will not let you sleep, when you do!”  
Vaylin looked at Liss, like she was being judged too harshly, “Do you really believe, that I, I! snore?”, she asked a bit insulted, “I? Vaylin Fyéry?”, she added, when Liss didn’t show any kind of reaction to her posturing, “Really? You really don’t know my name?” she asked, a bit confused.  
“Oh sure, I know your father, personally even, we are good friends! Sometimes we go fishing together.”, Liss mocked, sarcastically, with her attention still to the tent, “Now help me with it.”, nodding towards the tent, “Grab the top and pull.”  
Vaylin shrugged and did as she was told, with a few simple pulls and pushes, the tent was standing.  
“It ain’t big, but, mi casa es su casa.”, she jokingly bowed and showed her in. Vaylin took her sleeping bag of the ground, where she left it, when she searched for her tent, and followed Liss’ invitation.  
“You know Spanish?”, Vaylin asked, when Liss joined her and threw her sleeping bag on the ground.  
“No, not at all, I’m a northerner, before I learn a southern language, I learn Mongolian.”, she laughed, “Which I did.” Liss added, after catching a judging look of Vaylin.  
“You know I’m originally from Spain. Well, former Spain, now the western unified holy land…”, she corrected herself, with a bitter tone in her voice.  
Liss ignored, what ever Vaylin’s problem was. “Let’s get outside, sit in the open, it is nice outside, the fires should be all burning.”, she said, leading by example. The two emerged from the tent and from simple land around them, it transformed into a sea of tents and fires. Liss chose a fire close to them and sat down, patting a spot next to her, giving Vaylin the sign to sit next to her. She unhooked her sword and laid it beside her, to the opposite side, where Vaylin was supposed to sit. When Vaylin sat down and did the same with her sword, the two sat silent next to each other, watching the flames.  
“It’s cold isn’t it?”, Vaylin asked, disturbing the silence.  
Liss shook her head, “I’m from the north, Norway, to be exact.”, Liss pulled a metal bottle out of a pouch, reaching it to Vaylin. It was a bit bent, to accommodate wearing it at the hip. “Here, this is an old brew from home, it’s supposed to vanish the bad spirits making you feel cold.”  
Vaylin looked at it funny, “You don’t believe that, do you?”, she asked curiously.  
“No, but it tastes great, and I have something from home.”  
In a short distance a soldier started to sing, accompanied by humming and crude instruments.  
Vaylin took the metal flask, opened it and smelled it. “Oh! My! Gawd!”, she shook her head in disgust, “What living hell on earth it this brew? Is it steaming?”  
“Yea, it is. Now dirk! It’s not supposed to smell good, drink!”  
Vaylin carefully nipped on the brew.  
“Tastes good ain’t it?”, Liss asked, while Vaylin tried to hold her composure, trying not to spit it out.  
“This is hot herb brand?!”, she cried out, when she finally managed to down the sip she took.  
“Yea! It’s spicy, sweet, bitter and, best thing of all, hot!”, Liss proclaimed proudly.  
“How on earth do you drink this unholy stuff?”, Vaylin asked bitter, “Are you trying to poison me? I am the only inherit of my parent’s fortune, but they are not dead yet, and you are not on the list on the list of fortunate, just jet.”, Vaylin laughed, after a look of Liss, she added, “That was a joke…”  
“I’m not. It’s a specialty, where I’m from.”, Liss took a large sip out of the bottle and sighing in relieve right after.  
Vaylin looked at her with resentment, enjoying the brew, she just was close to spitting out.  
“Now worries, the first time I tried it, I spat it into the face of the boy, who made me try it, you were doing good.”, she smiled.  
Only with these words, Vaylin felt welcome.  
“Can I try again?”, she asked, a bit scared.  
“If you want to.”, Liss answered, serenely. “Try to enjoy it this time.”  
Vaylin took the flask and looked at it. She took a larger sip, and quickly forced it down. It didn’t taste well, but the feeling, a tingly sensation in her limbs, made her feel alive and warm. A feeling of being hugged overcame her. A soft smile followed automatically.  
“You know the story of the night-sun?”, Vaylin asked.  
Liss who was lying on her back and staring into the star lit sky. Peeled her eyes of it and looked at her.  
“The story behind it? It’s a big star, what’s about it?”, Her eyes drifted again away from her, into the far away of the sky.  
Vaylin’s eyes followed. The dim half-moon in front, behind, a few inches to the left the bright, the large, dark-red, night-sun. “The night sun is a new body in the sky.”, Vaylin started, “It appeared only ninety years prior.  
My grand-parents told me, many times, how they witnessed the appearance of the blood-sun, that’s how they called it. They said, it was after the first mass burning of the tainted, or for us, the gifted. The pyres were burning as bright as day that night, when they dimmed down, the night got bright again, and short after turned red. The church saw it as a sign of god, as did my grandparents, and accepted my mother shortly after into the family.  
The Salvators, the tainted-hunters, saw it as a sign of their gods as well, but as a cry from the devils from their underworld, who was mourning the lost tainted souls of his army of darkness, he had lost, and created a new planet of hate, for them to reside.”  
“Hm.” Liss was now staring at Vaylin. “What do you believe in?”, Liss asked, the into the abyss staring Vaylin.  
“Wha?”, Liss was surprised to hear that question, “What do you mean?”  
“I mean, believing into an evil army of devil worshippers is kinda bad ass, ain’t it?”, Liss said, with a wild smile on her face. “Makes sense as well, god is THE evil and the poor souls of the Salvators are the only hope for mankind.”, she laughed, “That’s so against, of what I experienced, but that’s so fucking cool.”, she laughed. Liss was still focused on Vaylin, “You included your mother in that story, who was she?”, Liss asked in a complete different voice, calm in an instant, intrigued even.  
“Well, she was a gifted one. She came from Portugal, where the prosecution of us was helped by the state. She fled to Spain, and landed in a small border-city, near France. There she met my father; they fell in love and so on. At first my grandparents weren’t happy with the union of em, but they accepted her after the whole ordeal with the new sun, things changed for them. They helped many to flee from the Salvators, even though they weren’t gifted ones.”  
“They are heroes!”, Liss gasped, “That’s why I’ve never seen you in training!”, she concluded.  
“No, not exactly.”, Vaylin sighed. “I’m here, because of my father.”, she turned her back to Liss.  
Liss frowned, “What’s wrong?”  
“You know? I was close with him once. With my whole family, I was close. I was proud of my family, now, I can’t see into my father’s eyes, without seeing a traitor, I use my name, because it has effect on people, but not because I’m proud of it, anymore.”  
Liss smiled shortly, “I’ve made some experiences with the Union as well.” She paused. “And there are things, I am not proud of doing myself, but if anything, you can rely on that you have a place here. Your name, no matter what your parents did, has no meaning, at least for me. You are your own person, your worth isn’t determined by your family, name, status, you were born into, but what you can give, and that’s what I respect the most. Skill, power and mind, that’s what’s important.”, she stopped her rant, “Actually, do you know, what Iceborn means?”, Liss asked, her voice cold down again.  
“No, I thought it was a family name…” Vaylin answered, “Like mine, Fyéry, isn’t it?”, she asked.  
“No, it was given to me. After I had proven my worth.”, her voice proud and bitter, it seemed to hurt her, to remember the past, but she seemed just as glad, that it happened. “I was a foundling. My parents left me in the snow to die.”  
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know…”, Vaylin’s attention drifted towards Liss again.  
Liss continued, “You couldn’t, the only people, that knew before were Admiral Albert Gleaves and Admiral’s Adjutant Arnd Berg… Anyway, I was found and set to work, for the then king of Rørvik. A small kingdom in the north of Norway. I had the status of a slave, subhuman, worthless, dogs were treated better than me. Additionally, I had to hide my powers, my mark and myself. My kind was hunted in Norway as well, and the King supported them. I had to suppress my emotions, to never break out, no matter how cruel they were. For me, there is nothing more evil than this. Hunting children, innocents, people who have done nothing, except existing! With the union, I am never again worthless! I have proven my worth and so have you. And, as long as your parents didn’t hunt gifted, I don’t care what they did, I would forgive them, eventually…”

A long silence laid itself over the camp, fires glommed down, and a coat of sleep covered the small tent city.

**Author's Note:**

> This my frist OG. Have fun.  
> I uploaded the worldbuilding as well, if you want to read it, but there are spoilers in it. You can read it, if you dont understand the world or have questions, but I advise to keep away from the character sheets, for now, as the characters are not as far develloped, as the charachter sheets discribe them. But ofcause, these sheets will devellop as well, as the world. It is a learning by doing thing.


End file.
